On Monday, Apple began their annual WWDC with the Keynote presentation. The keynote starts at 10 am in SF, which ends up being 12 for me, so I like to read the live updates from tech websites and Twitter for the highlights. Then, I watch the full two hour presentation when I’m home in the evening. It’s like a small holiday celebration for me.

My passion for Apple started in 2004 with the iPod Mini, and continued to grow. I was obsessed with the idea of carrying all of my music on this one cool device, rather than having to carry around CD’s all the time. I saved birthday and Christmas gift money until I could buy myself the first generation iPod Nano in 2005. A year later, my dad surprised me with the classic iPod (5th generation) for my birthday. In 2009, I was given my first iPhone, the iPhone 3G. The same year, I decided to save and combine all of my graduation money to purchase my first MacBook Pro. I started watching the Keynote presentation in 2010 when the iPhone 4 was announced because I wanted to be in the know about what my favorite company was working on, hardware and software. Every year I’m delighted by what the team at Apple presents, and this year I’d like to call out a few features I’m most excited about.

watchOS

Admittedly, I haven’t felt compelled enough to save to buy an Apple watch. It does many cool things, but I’m not sure if I want or need a wearable device yet. I’ve tried on the watch a few times and I’ve never been comfortable with its bulkiness. With the iPhone as an example, I know the next generation could be sleeker and smaller body design, which would be a nicer fit my for small wrist. In the meantime, while I wait for the next generation, I am still excited about the new software updates and the overall quickness of the new watchOS. I’m most excited about the updates to the health app and the new breathing app. As I start to cycle more, I’m eager to learn more about keeping my fitness log up to date.

macOS Sierra

I’m most excited about the new universal clipboard feature. Since I’m writing more often, I am continuously moving from my iPhone to my MacBook with large sections of text. Right now, I use a variety of Apps and saving methods (which I’ll share a full write up on soon), but universal clipboard will allow me to switch or move from one device to another with ease. Another feature that may help with my process of drafting text files and organizing is the new features in iCloud Drive. Apple Pay on the Mac is efficient. I think I’ll be much more likely to use this feature on my mac than on my iPhone. Even though Apple Pay has been available on the phone for a while, I’ve only been able to use it a few times because I often forget to use it when in a checkout line. Right now, I am unsure how much I’ll use Siri on my mac, but I am curious of how I can utilize Siri in new ways.

iOS – my favorite

Apple added many new features to Messages including smarter links, bigger emoji, swapping text for emoji, bubble animations, sending your handwriting, full screen animations, and new quick responses you can send by tapping the message bubble. I’ve never used other messaging apps or different keyboards for my messaging, so these features will be completely new to me. I wonder how often I’ll use certain new features (like the stickers..), but I’m excited to express my messages in new ways. The cosmetic updates to the lock screen and the News app are beautiful. I’m starting to read my news more often in the News app like a feed reader. iOS updates are always the most exciting to me because my iPhone is my favorite device. It remains in constant use because I’m able to do so much with it. For example, I edited this and posted it to Squarespace on my iPhone.

Overall, I enjoyed the WWDC this year. I’m looking forward to updating my software on my devices. But, I’m equally eager to see how developers will make my favorite apps even better with these updates. I’m always happy to find fresh ways to love the devices I already own and that’s what this Keynote gave me.